(S01E20) Program Note: Tonight, the role of Jay Black will be played by Rich Keller.

Aaron Sorkin in a creature of habit. If you watch one of the shows that he's produced over the last decade or so you see a lot of stuff that's familiar between them. For instance, the patented walk-and-talk, the fast banter between characters, and the recycling of actors from one show to another. He also likes the flashback. Correction, he loves the flashback! Especially when they take place during a dramatic turning point in the show's storyline.

Thinking I'm just a hater of all things Sorkin right now? Well, I have proof. I present as evidence the first two episodes of the second season of The West Wing. Those were the episodes right after President Bartlet and Josh Lyman were injured during an assassination attempt. While both characters went into surgery the other members of the West Wing staff began to recall how they joined the Bartlet for President campaign years before. What happened next? Flashbacks!

Welcome to TV Squad Lists (formerly 'The Five'), a feature where each blogger has a chance to list his or her own rundown of things in television that stand out from the rest, both good and bad.

With the 2006-07 season now just a fading memory in our short attention-span universe, it's a good time to sit back and reflect on what came to pass. The beginning of it was full of excitement and promise. The end of the season was pretty much the same as others before it: some good (and not-so-good) stuff survived, the bad stuff didn't, and stuff that we thought was good went down in flames fairly quickly. There were some surprises in the freshmen class and some resurgences in older fare. In the meanwhile, American Idol remained the show killer.

You knew I'd be the one to tell you this news, right?

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip returns to the NBC schedule on May 24, presumably to just run the rest of the episodes they have filmed. Hopefully they knew they were ending early while filming so they can end the show in a good way.

By the way, May 24 is a Thursday. The show will air at 10pm in the slot currently occupied by ER. I wonder what would have happened to the show if it had originally been in this slot, or maybe an hour earlier. Oh well. I guess the best way to think of it now is as a long miniseries, one that will have around 22 episodes and a conclusion.

Welcome to TV Squad Lists (formerly 'The Five'), a feature where each blogger has a chance to list his or her own rundown of things in television that stand out from the rest, both good and bad.

TV usually gets the writing profession wrong. I've never understood why, since shows and characters are written by writers themselves. Maybe they think they have to dumb it down for the general audience. That's why you have writers like Jessica Fletcher, who just sits down at the typewriter and the words come out fine and she mails it off to her publisher. This happens all the time on television. And have you ever noticed that when you hear the writing that a writer character has done on a show it's almost always terrible? Why is that?

After the jump are six writer characters on TV that were done correctly.

...of course, the second part of that headline should probably be "...but it probably won't be renewed."

There have been rumors going around that Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip had stopped production, but that's not the case. In fact, they just finished filming episode 19 earlier this week, and filming of episode 20 started earlier today. So it looks like they'll film the full 22 for the season, but after that...well, they'll probably burn off the episodes during the summer and the show will not see a second season. That's Ray Richmond's take on it, and I agree with him.

Which is really too bad, because...well, for all the reasons I've mentioned several times here at the site before. And it's too bad that NBC abandoned the show, even though other shows that have premiered since Studio 60 was put on hiatus haven't done any better in the ratings. It would have been really nice to see what the show could have done in another time slot, another night. But I guess we'll have to be happy with a one season DVD set, hopefully with extras.

[via TV Tattle]

If you are avid readers of TV Squad you know that Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is taking a little break. Okay, it may be taking a long break. All right, the next time we see it may be on the Brilliant But Cancelled website! Regardless of whether or not it returns to the NBC schedule (which is should, since it does have a full order) I am still rooting for the show. Not because of Aaron Sorkin, or the subject matter, or even for the walk-and-talks. I am rooting for Studio 60 to succeed due to one cast member . . . Sarah Paulson as Harriet Hayes.

Oh, wait a minute. That's for my 'The reason I'm NOT rooting for Studio 60' post. Who I meant to mention was Matt Perry as Matt Albie. Well, also Bradley Whitford as Danny Tripp, Amanda Peet as Jordan McDeere, D.L. Hughley as Simon Stiles, and pretty much everyone else on the cast except Harriet Hayes. But, mostly I'm rooting for Matt Perry.

The previews hammered it home a thousand times this past week: this episode of Studio 60 would be the one that "America will be talking about." So I have to ask America: are you talking about it this morning?

I don't bring this up to dig into the episode specifically (though the two-part "Harriet Dinner" episode was certainly the worst so far). I like the show. I bring it up to point out that network promos these days are overdone, overhyped, misleading and/or confusing. They usually don't make sense or are disappointing when it comes to everything from ER to Lost, but this one was truly odd. Why would America be talking about this episode when America hasn't really been talking about the show so far? The moment they were talking about, I assume it was the kiss between Danny and Jordan? OK, nice moment, and the second part of this ep was better than the first by a longshot, but I hardly think it's something that we're talking about in any major way. Danny and Jordan aren't Sam and Diane yet, or Dave and Maddie.

Maybe they meant Ugly Betty star America Ferrera?

(S01E11) I've never understood how people can celebrate Christmas in California (or Florida or Texas, for that matter). I grew up and live in New England, and I don't understand how you can have Christmas without the cold air and the possibility of snow. I mean, it just doesn't seem right, roaring down the 405 with the top down as the temp hovers around 78 degrees, with no Jack Frost nipping at your nose (job). But that's just me.

But it's also Matt Albie, who wants to bring a little Christmas spirit to Los Angeles and the set of Studio 60...

(S01E01) OK, I'm going to make a bold statement here, so I hope you're sitting down. I assume you are because you're in front of a computer, but if you're standing for some reason, please, sit down.

All set? OK, here goes: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is the best new show of the fall.

And I say that even though I haven't yet seen the other show being touted as the best new show, ABC's The Nine. The tape is sitting to the left of me as I type this, so I'll be watching it soon (thanks ABC for sending me a tape instead of a DVD. What, is this 1999?). But I can't imagine that the show has the combination that Studio 60 has after two episodes. One is the obvious quality right out of the gate (creator, writer, director, cast, etc), and the other is this incredible, palpable feeling you get watching it that, even though everything doesn't work across the board, you know it could get even better. That the strong moments far, far outweigh the bad moments.

And it's straight out entertaining as hell.